- Our teaching and learning today belong to the 21st century.
- Being fluent in the 21st century means having a knowledge and understanding of learning styles, theories and technical tools such as the web tools and global communication through internet. Fluency skills in the 21st century is the having the knowledge and ability to navigate internet, technical applications and the skills using different software. Wiki's, blogging, navigating internet, etc.. are all 21st communication skills used in the 21st century for education.
- The characteristics of today's learning environments are virtual and global communications. The physical classroom might have computers for students and if not, most of what will be done by students and instructors outside of class and lecture is on the computer and internet. Today's learners are an assortment of ages. Online classes make it possible for anyone to take classes without ever leaving home. Today's teachers design their classes around and involving computer software like e-mail, blogging, webcams etc. and can have a few classes of students that are beyond the physical classroom. There should no reason in the 21st century why anyone, young or old, cannot have an education.
- The elements of the constructionist learning environments are student centered rather than teacher centered. This means that the students needs are the priority in applying the best ways they learn and how. What tools, learning techniques and strategies will best serve in a lesson or class that will have positive results for the students are an instructors continual pursuit and discovery. Rather than designing a set of lectures to give over and over again, many of today's instructors are scientist themselves who are on a mission to discover, study, and analyze new theories, new tools, and how they apply to learning. On problem in today's educational environments is that many systems and programs in education are stuck in the 20th century and the transition into the 21st century has been too slow. This creates problems in a number of ways. The new generation of students usually know more about technologies and computer applications than their instructors. Instructors are realizing that the way they once taught isn't applicable for these students who learn differently than past generations. On the other hand, and in my own learning space, we have another generation of older students who feel that they cannot possibly succeed in school because they lack the skills of the 21st generation. They are afraid to step into this virtual world and be part of it.
- One instructional learning modeltype stategy being used today is androgogy. Research shows evidence that businesses and education are redesigning workshops and classes to include andragogy. An example of the implemention of androgogy is seen being considered for redesigning programs such as the police training programs. In the past, police were hired for their physical condition, their interest in crime control and the ability to follow command decisions without hesitation but this may not be the best of training enviroments. Some feel that andragogy should would be valuable to implement because past experiences, the experiences of others will help them think critically, conceptually, and creatively in areas such as problem solving, judgement, and leadership. This is because police work involves critical decisions, choices, and discretions on a regular basis. Many believe andragogy is the appropriate learning process that is suitable for areas that have been lacking in police training programs. Another good example is veteran teachers. This part I will paste from a paper I wrote. The theory of adult learning also applies to veteran teachers who are more likely to change their self affirmation midway through their careers. They have survived changes and reforms yet still remain in teaching despite negativism of standards and proficiency mandates. Programs of professional development should realize the differing needs of this particular audience to make development more meaningful and transferable into the classroom. By understanding the differing stages of development and recognizing that teachers can with appropriate professional development activities move to a higher stage of development to increase growth. This allows the instructor to broaden their techniques and methods for not only their students but themselves. Adult learning when it applies to professional development for teacher in service education also has four major key ingredients: 1) use of concrete experiences, 2) continuously available supervision and advising, 3) encouragement of adults to take on new and complex roles, and 4) the use of support and feedback when implementing new techniques. Andragogy and adult learning theory is compatible and should be considered for inclusion into programs designed to promote professional development for the seasoned veteran instructor (Trotter, Y. D. Winter 2006, Adult Learning Theories: Impacting Professional Development Programs). Problem solving, technology based learning, and andragogy are planned in my design. It uses narratives in the power point, examines where the problems are and how to approach solving them as in time management and the technology learning is implemented by having students create their own wiki.
- There are two frameworks for analying and evaluating media, one is Lasswell's and the other is the Tap Model. Laswells says to look for the message by asking who, what, to whom, in what way, and with what effect. Tap Model says to identify what medium is the text such film, magazine, song, etc. It also advises to ask's other questions such as how the work was produced and what audience is being targeted. I probably used both when deciding on what I chose to use in my learning space. Because of time contraints also used what I could handle.
- Web tools are tools derived from the web and for the web. These tools provide a wide variety of systems or programs to use for different tasks. It is much like the tool box where different items have different uses. There are blogging tools, spreadsheet tools, photo tools...and all are designed to do specific tasks for the user. Web tools have a mass amount of potential and is evident already on this wiki.
- A learning tool becomes effective by its creator and design. These learning tools are especially effective in education and the potential is incrediable. Instructors have more freedom for creativity and design in the implementation and faciliation their material. Technology relate to learning tools in a huge way. One is better communication through such vehicles as email. This means everyone, teachers and students do not have to wait by the phone or in their office. Technology saves loads of time because many things that used to be manually are now done by the computer. An example can be seen in urvey's, questionaire, grading, and math calculations which are now done by the computer and technology.
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